New website.

[nonrev1]

9 hours ago, Nuts4pi said:

Did you not receive an emailed copy of what you booked onboard? That copy will give you the breakdown of charges & you can calculate what portion of the total invoice the loyalty credit is based on (usually just the cruise fare, less the amounts of promos applied). Depending on what level you were at on the 1st leg of your b2b, use that percentage to match up with the lcv credit shown on your "incorrect" invoice, then calculate what it should be at your new level (5%, 6%, etc.). Deduct the difference from the amount showing you owe online (or with your TA).

I know what the Kent 4489 is saying regarding the cruise pricing and final payment.  For the first few cruises after the system went down, they were taking manual bookings and promised when the system went back up they would get everything corrected and would send it to you.  They could only give you a general idea what the cruise price would be but us doing the math after the fact is not necessarily accurate.  So, final payment is now due on some of those bookings but there is nothing to compare it to .....they did not have a breakdown of charges and they did not have accurate loyalty levels to apply to bookings.  Even though people knew their levels they did not apply the discount until it could be verified.  So ----sorry Kent 4489, I know your pain and frustration.  

[kent4489]

4 minutes ago, nonrev1 said:

I know what the Kent 4489 is saying regarding the cruise pricing and final payment.  For the first few cruises after the system went down, they were taking manual bookings and promised when the system went back up they would get everything corrected and would send it to you.  They could only give you a general idea what the cruise price would be but us doing the math after the fact is not necessarily accurate.  So, final payment is now due on some of those bookings but there is nothing to compare it to .....they did not have a breakdown of charges and they did not have accurate loyalty levels to apply to bookings.  Even though people knew their levels they did not apply the discount until it could be verified.  So ----sorry Kent 4489, I know your pain and frustration.  

Thank you very much! It is frustrating.

[Mackdogmolly]

I just got an email, assuring me that my OBC for my upcoming cruise (which I cancelled and is no longer visible on my account) is still there and I can go ahead and book excursions.

Edited May 17, 2023 by Mackdogmolly

[Baynanno1]

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I just got an email, assuring me that my OBC for my upcoming cruise (which I cancelled and is no longer visible on my account) is still there and I can go ahead and book excursions.

 

You have to laugh, because if you didn't you would cry! 🙃🤔😢

[nonrev1]

Good news….I called and after many hours got a live voice.  Bad news - they can see our OBC but cannot see the tours to be able to book them.  I thought I was getting one of our issues resolved.  🙄

 

[IDLnyc]

21 hours ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

You know how much you still owe.  Why not pay that amount, and then trust the experience of so many posters here that when you board the ship they will have the amounts correct and show you as 'fully paid' ?

My final payment was due the end of April.  The Azamara website showed a balance due about $2,000 above the correct amount.  For the past two weeks my ONLY option on the Azamara website was to pay the full, and wrong, amount.  There was no option to pay a partial amount.

This week the website shows something new.  The "Make a Payment" button is sitll there but it opens a screen that doesn't show the (correct or incorrect) balance due and there is no option to pay.

So because I've been told they aren't auto-canceling reservations for failure to pay, I'm just sitting tight for now.  My cruise sails in late August.

[Nuts4pi]

So, these are just my honest thoughts right now due to so many negative posts & complaints under this topic...

I think it best if people stop looking at their online account so frequently! Of course it will change day-to-day while they work out the bugs! 

Whether you're sailing in a few months or a few days doesn't matter. Don't worry about final payment being due - Azamara is NOT canceling bookings due to non-payment! Want to check in? Do it at the pier. Want shore excursions? Book 3rd party or wait until you're onboard to book them with OBC or a CC.

Many recent cruisers have said the shore-side/website errors are not showing once they're onboard (i.e., the records are CORRECT on the ships).

If every one here would take a deep breath & leave the shore-side people alone for even one week, they can focus their work on straightening out the website mess.

Most of all, DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF - JUST ENJOY YOUR CRUISE! 😊🚢

Edited May 18, 2023 by Nuts4pi
Correct grammar

[roger b]

3 hours ago, Nuts4pi said:

So, these are just my honest thoughts right now due to so many negative posts & complaints under this topic...

I think it best if people stop looking at their online account so frequently! Of course it will change day-to-day while they work out the bugs! 

Whether you're sailing in a few months or a few days doesn't matter. Don't worry about final payment being due - Azamara is NOT canceling bookings due to non-payment! Want to check in? Do it at the pier. Want shore excursions? Book 3rd party or wait until you're onboard to book them with OBC or a CC.

Many recent cruisers have said the shore-side/website errors are not showing once they're onboard (i.e., the records are CORRECT on the ships).

If every one here would take a deep breath & leave the shore-side people alone for even one week, they can focus their work on straightening out the website mess.

Most of all, DON'T SWEAT THE SMALL STUFF - JUST ENJOY YOUR CRUISE! 😊🚢

 In my opinion, you are being too forgiving with a company that has had these issues for 4 months now. Personally, I see no reason why they cannot find a solution after all this time,  This is what I get when I try to get into my account Nothing has been fixed!!!

 

Sorry for the interruption

Cruise Planner is temporarily unavailable for the reservation you selected. Please wait at least 15 minutes, and then try again.

 

 

 

[blag]

32 minutes ago, roger b said:

In my opinion, you are being too forgiving with a company that has had these issues for 4 months now. Personally, I see no reason why they cannot find a solution after all this time,  This is what I get when I try to get into my account Nothing has been fixed!!!

Whilst I agree entirely that this unacceptable fiasco has been much, much to prolonged, I don't think that Nuts4pi is being forgiving.

I think he is suggesting that people only do what is essential and/or necessary so as to allow Azamara to concentrate on the important matters.

I, for one, have only one future cruise booked (April 2024) and I have not tried to log-in. In fact, I haven't even looked at the new web site. I am assuming (admittedly, not with the greatest of confidence) that Azamara will have sorted things out by the time I need interaction with the web site. 

[Mackdogmolly]

I just have my eye on a B2B in 2024, but need everything to be fixed before I can book it. No immediate hurry, but of course the longer I have to wait, the more likely that the prices will go up, so naturally I am keeping an eye on things, but have given up trying to communicate or waste my TA’s time for now. How long can this drag on? Now even their ads are getting angry responses!!

[nonrev1]

The only problem with waiting to book excursions onboard is that they are not honoring the original pricing.  I think if Azamara came out in their next letter and said the pricing on excursions will remain what they were originally before the system went down, there would be a lot less frustration.  I can no longer see excursions to book them and when I called, they can not see them either.  I am absolutely fine with waiting until I board the ship but not if some of the tour pricing will increase by at least 30% as was demonstrated in a previous post.  

[islandwoman]

1 hour ago, Mackdogmolly said:

I just have my eye on a B2B in 2024, but need everything to be fixed before I can book it. No immediate hurry, but of course the longer I have to wait, the more likely that the prices will go up, so naturally I am keeping an eye on things, but have given up trying to communicate or waste my TA’s time for now. How long can this drag on? Now even their ads are getting angry responses!!

How can you "keep an eye on things" ?

[kent4489]

The only problem (for me), if I wait and don’t worry about the final payment deadline, if I decide to cancel my two B2B cruises within the 120 day mark, the penalty is greater. I will not pay final payment without knowing my actual cruise cost. I explained all this above, why I still do not know the cost. We don’t want to cancel, but if at some point soon, they can’t bother giving me a correct price, we will cancel. 
For the record, I do not even try to contact Azamara. I did send in a form a couple of times a few weeks ago, but still have not received a reply. For now, I’ll wait just a little longer, but I do not intend to wait until final payment date to even know the price of the cruises. 
At the moment, I’m not overly concerned with OBC or excursions. We never book ship excursions and use OBC for spa services, so that’s not a problem for us. Everyone has different concerns so it isn’t one answer fits all.

As far as negative comments, sorry, my thoughts are that this has gone on too long. We wanted to book another cruise for Feb. 2024, but there’s no way I will book anything else until this is sorted out. 

[MamaFej]

1 hour ago, nonrev1 said:

The only problem with waiting to book excursions onboard is that they are not honoring the original pricing.  I think if Azamara came out in their next letter and said the pricing on excursions will remain what they were originally before the system went down, there would be a lot less frustration.  I can no longer see excursions to book them and when I called, they can not see them either.  I am absolutely fine with waiting until I board the ship but not if some of the tour pricing will increase by at least 30% as was demonstrated in a previous post.  

Another problem is availability. There is limited capacity on each excursion. We all understand that it's first-come-first-served. We understand "You snooze: you lose." However, there is no way of knowing when booking will actually be possible; so, when is it okay to snooze? When should we log on and check? 

 

We prefer small group private excursions, but we have significant OBC on our two July Azamara cruises, both of which are very port-intensive (3 sea days out of 28). We'd rather use some of the OBC on excursions than lose it. We have no interest in the shops, and only one of the Chef's Table menus interests us. We will likely do it once each cruise. 

 

I'm confident that we are not the only ones in this situation. 

[Mackdogmolly]

27 minutes ago, islandwoman said:

How can you "keep an eye on things" ?

What I mean by that, is I am watching closely to determine when the IT issues have resolved enough so that I can receive my FCCs due, and move up to my Discoverer status, which will involve seeing my last cruise. I will want to use my “free” nights on one of the B2Bs. I also would like to be able to see available cabins, the ability of which will hopefully return.

[Mackdogmolly]

8 minutes ago, kent4489 said:

We wanted to book another cruise for Feb. 2024, but there’s no way I will book anything else until this is sorted out. 

We are right there with you!!

[Hula Girl67]

On 5/14/2023 at 7:54 PM, Sallyandtex said:

I tried these instructions and it just bounced pay to payment after i hit "canceL"

Does the shore ex have to be less than the OBC amount?? The payment screen still shows I owe the full amount, and now the OBC voucher had disappeared as i selected the authorisation to use the OBC for Shore Ex 😞😞

 

I also received this email. My cruise is on August 7,2023 Iceland Intensive. I followed the instructions in the mail and at first could not get excursions booked. I kept refreshing the browser (Safari) and finally was able to book 2 excursions with OBC. It never went to the payment page but I clicked on "store" button at the bottom. Up popped a window that stated my reservation was stored. Now I can see it in my "shopping basket".

Just checked the website again today and see the attached message that wasn't there before. OBC credit unavailable online. One step forward, 2 steps back!  

I have taken screen shots and copied everything.

 

[rickip]

21 hours ago, Hula Girl67 said:

I also received this email. My cruise is on August 7,2023 Iceland Intensive. I followed the instructions in the mail and at first could not get excursions booked. I kept refreshing the browser (Safari) and finally was able to book 2 excursions with OBC. It never went to the payment page but I clicked on "store" button at the bottom. Up popped a window that stated my reservation was stored. Now I can see it in my "shopping basket".

Just checked the website again today and see the attached message that wasn't there before. OBC credit unavailable online. One step forward, 2 steps back!  

I have taken screen shots and copied everything.

 

I think they are backpedaling on those instructions which were sent out.  Ran into all kinds of accounting challenges, especially with bookings in other currencies (OBCs in US$, excursions in a different currency).  I was advised that this could "take awhile" to sort out.

 

[blag]

11 minutes ago, rickip said:

I think they are backpedaling on those instructions which were sent out.  Ran into all kinds of accounting challenges, especially with bookings in other currencies (OBCs in US$, excursions in a different currency).  I was advised that this could "take awhile" to sort out.

 

No surprise, then!

It goes from bad to worse.

Tedious and tiresome.

Extraordinary damage to their credibility.

[Toronto Guy]

I was finally able to find a travel agent site that showed available cabins for my sailing in August.  Almost all the categories have a huge number of cabins left, but the suites are sold out.  If the cruise line isn't getting its final payments (including mine), and nobody is booking future cruises because of this mess, they must be battling a huge cash flow problem right now......which makes me really not want to make my final payment now in fear they are going to go belly up.  All the signs are there.....I think we should be a little more concerned about the money they do have from us right now.

Edited May 19, 2023 by Toronto Guy

[Marylebone37]

3 hours ago, Toronto Guy said:

I was finally able to find a travel agent site that showed available cabins for my sailing in August.  Almost all the categories have a huge number of cabins left, but the suites are sold out.  If the cruise line isn't getting its final payments (including mine), and nobody is booking future cruises because of this mess, they must be battling a huge cash flow problem right now......which makes me really not want to make my final payment now in fear they are going to go belly up.  All the signs are there.....I think we should be a little more concerned about the money they do have from us right now.

This concerns me also.  If you look around what has happened to some companies under Sycamore Partners’ ownership, it's quite troubling to put it mildly.  Buyer beware for sure (at least for the time being).

[JM0115]

1 minute ago, Marylebone37 said:

This concerns me also.  If you look around what has happened to some companies under Sycamore Partners’ ownership, it's quite troubling to put it mildly.  Buyer beware for sure (at least for the time being).

I’ve worked in Private Equity. Unfortunately the interest in short term gain trumps long term thinking in many cases.

[Host Jazzbeau]

3 hours ago, Toronto Guy said:

I was finally able to find a travel agent site that showed available cabins for my sailing in August.  Almost all the categories have a huge number of cabins left, but the suites are sold out.  If the cruise line isn't getting its final payments (including mine), and nobody is booking future cruises because of this mess, they must be battling a huge cash flow problem right now......which makes me really not want to make my final payment now in fear they are going to go belly up.  All the signs are there.....I think we should be a little more concerned about the money they do have from us right now.

You remind me of the economic indicator that has predicted 9 of the last 5 recessions.  If you want to see a cruise line where "all the signs are really there" look at Vantage.  A vast difference to Azamara, where all the scheduled cruises have sailed and all the onboard reports are that they are delivering the expected Azamara quality.

[Toronto Guy]

31 minutes ago, Host Jazzbeau said:

You remind me of the economic indicator that has predicted 9 of the last 5 recessions.  If you want to see a cruise line where "all the signs are really there" look at Vantage.  A vast difference to Azamara, where all the scheduled cruises have sailed and all the onboard reports are that they are delivering the expected Azamara quality.

Is the Host supposed to be insulting contributors to this board???  

[Host Jazzbeau]

25 minutes ago, Toronto Guy said:

Is the Host supposed to be insulting contributors to this board???  

That wasn't an insult, just my frank reaction to a perceived over-reaction.